Being Proud of What We Are Not

I think it is appropriate to revisit the purpose and some of the main characteristics of Boiling Frogs Post as we are getting ready to wrap up and finalize our countdown month. Usually, as we have done, organizations and various forums list adjectives on what they are: independent, nonpartisan, etc. I believe equally important are those characteristics and objectives that are not part of a website or a forum’s content or theme; especially those by design. I want to go on record and talk about a few things that I’ve made sure this site is not about and does not provide a platform for, and all that by design and unrelenting adamancy.

Not Providing Platforms to Undeserved Petty Personalities

One of the reasons for years I stayed away from blogs and various forums was their general tendency, a willing tendency that is, to extensively cover and meddle in some ridiculous ‘popular’ personalities with even more ridiculous context or quotes. By this I mean both positive and negative coverage, because negative coverage is coverage, in other words, negative publicity for those ‘pop political figures’ is far better than getting no coverage-no publicity. Frankly I find this continuous trend sickening, and I refuse to consider these sites respect worthy-visit worthy.

I am not just talking the talk here. I have ensured that Boiling Frogs Post never gives coverage, even the slightest, to these personalities, scandals or petty headlines. And, I invite you to review the content of our website and check it out for yourself. You will not find a single word or even the name of some Female Pop-Political Figurehead from Alaska, nor will you see any mentioning of some strange lady with an Adam’s apple, nor the name or coverage of some crying-wailing Pop-Political Radio-TV clown … Please don’t take my word for it, instead take a few minutes and search this site, and you’ll come up empty-handed! Next, take a few more minutes and visit sites that have been selling themselves as ‘alternative news,’ search their present content and past archives, and take a note of the amount of coverage dedicated to that kind of garbage, packaged and sold to their readers as ‘alternative news and coverage.’ Well, we are proud not to be one of those, and will remain this way for as long as this site is able to continue.

Not Intimidated by the Taboo-Setting Popular Media Boogie Men

One of the major pitfalls faced by many start-up forums is the tendency to give in to the fear of being labeled-marginalized-made an outcast, based on topics of coverage. What starts, usually, as alternative, quickly transforms into conformity, becomes mainstream, which in turn changes into coverage appeasing the powers. The no-no topics of the powers-governed mainstream media become the no-no topics of wanna-be alternative media, and from there the trend mushrooms out into many smaller forums. Like it or not this is the sad reality applicable to most. Let me give you a few examples:

Israel & Israel Lobby: I don’t think I need to elaborate much on this as I suspect most of you, our readers, are pretty familiar with this ‘taboo’ uniformly avoided & censored by the mainstream and their minions within the smaller (aka alternative) news and commentary sphere. You can read my commentary on this here, written after one of my articles on the Israel Lobby and Israel Lobby backed political figures.

9/11 & Many Unanswered Questions: Again, many of our readers know how the powers have successfully turned this topic into a taboo equal (or more extreme!) than Ebola. Simply put, the motto on this issue has become: ‘Thou shall not mention 9/11 unless it is to advocate for bigger government and lesser liberties via fear mongering.’ All truth seekers, all critical thinkers, anyone who dares to point out major discrepancies has been placed in one bucket tagged as nut cases. Are there some really ‘way out there’ people with more ‘way out there’ theories on this major world-changing issue? You bet! I wish you could read some of the most absurd letters and e-mails I’ve received from people in this category. On the other hand, to place activist 9/11 family members who have been pushing for real investigations and answers, all the former and current government intelligence & law enforcement experts and witnesses who have raised their legitimate flags, all rational people who haven’t given up their critical thinking thus have been seeking ‘real’ answers … all in that same bucket? Well, as far as conspiracies go, that will make it to the top of the list: successfully implemented propaganda by the powers.

I have had e-mails and calls from well-known and well-respected people who criticize and warn me every time I write a piece, raise a question, or make a comment on this topic. They say: ‘you don’t want to marginalize yourself by touching this issue, Sibel.’ They say: ‘I am sorry I cannot grant an interview because you are known to be associated with the 9/11 issue.’ They ask: ‘Why do you risk your reputation and reduce the chances of having a successful site by touching this issue?!’

This website is not about 9/11 but many of the issues covered here are directly or indirectly relevant to what happened on September 11, 2001. How could they not be?! The event triggering senseless wars, the PATRIOT ACT, Illegal Eavesdropping, Imperialism via Expansion of Bases, the persecution (and prosecution!) of whistleblowers, Warrantless Body Searches & Groping … is the beginning, the core and the center of many issues we’ve been facing; not only here in the US but everywhere in the world. Period! This site is not a platform for every 9/11 activist out there, but then again, this site does not shy away from tackling and covering the issue when it is related or relevant. Again, period!

Narcotics & Military-Intelligence Operations: Whether it is giving real information surrounding Afghan heroin or connecting the real dots in the global drug scene or going after the real players, when it comes to narcotics the attitude of the media is pretty much uniform: don’t cover it, or, report what ‘they’ want us to report. Of course this is not a new phenomena-think Iran Contra; think the coverage of the Karzai clan before it became kosher to touch upon their long-known narc associations; think Richard Armitage being always presented with a sanitized biography; just think. I have many reporter/journalist/editor acquaintances, and when I ask them they put it simply and uniformly: it is a messy area and we won’t investigate or even touch it. Another taboo. Another no no. And it goes a long way towards influencing others’ decision (conscious or subconscious) to leave it untouched. Here at Boiling Frogs Post and with very limited resources we don’t shy away from this taboo- the heroin connections show up in most stories-articles we cover; how could they not and yet be real analyses?!

Not a Site on Everything for Everyone

Another factor that puts me off when it comes to many so-called alternative sites and forums is their attempt to be everything to everyone. Think about it, outside the few major mainstream media players with significant resources, how can small sites with very limited resources and even more limited access to expertise cover and provide analyses-commentary on a wide range of topics and issues- from the economy to health care, from Afghanistan to Peru, from civil liberties to local elections, from marijuana legalization to pop icons, from the strange lady with the Adam’s apple to the current First Lady …and, be taken seriously?! I understand most want to increase site traffic, but come on, even the idea of it is preposterous, and the fact that huge numbers of people visit and read these sites is even more mind boggling to me.

I remember one of these sites recommended by a chronic blogger friend that I put on my radar for a week or so: two or three women claiming expertise on and writing about issues ranging from elections fraud, the Federal Reserve, First Amendment, whistleblowers, Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan, Korea, the Scooter Libby trial, abortion, CIA covert operations, FBI operations, various legislations in the making in Congress … to Coca Cola, Madonna, poetry on the greatness of the recent AOL Queen, Blueberry Pie recipes … you name it. Again, not claiming personal opinion, but trying to sell it as ‘expert analyses’ and facts.

While I appreciate sites such as War is Business where readers are provided with solid facts/data/research on a very well determined, staked out and defined range of issues (Military Industrial Complex-Lobby-Congress), I have zero tolerance or respect for websites that compile and put out a hodgepodge of issues/cases/personalities.

Boiling Frogs Post has been operating within fairly well defined boundaries of interconnected issues, and I intend to keep it that way. We are not trying to be everything to everyone. I think our coverage truly reflects our motto: A site for the Irate Minority; quality over quantity.

I can go on with the list of things we are not- not partisan, not dependent on any agenda-setters disguised under foundations or various brands of NGOs, not controversy averse, …but I think you get the picture and have our archive of publications in the last 18 months as backup and proof. This week will wrap up our fundraising countdown. We are halfway there, but not there. We need your support to continue. You determine whether this site is worthy of existence or not. Please donate what you can to keep this home of the irate minority alive, and thank you for all you do.

This site depends….

Comments

Thank you. This assures us all of our places. We are ALL here because of the 911 Catastrophe. That is why we are talking.
You do wonderful work. The genuine passage of 911Eye Witness Testimony and forensic evidence onto the pages anywhere in the world,
is joy to behold.

It’s the small things. The government workers dawdling in tandem(one to carry the bucket, one to roll the brush) to cover a piece of graffiti consisting of a black balloon and a message stating “be happy”. It is the message reappearing the next day. It is the botched national anthems, it is the vague notion that an economy is something that is grown. It’s the new system at the bank that involves no forms, the one where you enter your pin on a touchpad before hitting the ‘cancel’ button directly below the ‘confirm’ option on the touch screen.

It is the members of the Patriot Guard flashing their cards while the unemployed (who happen to make more money than you) stop by to stutter indignantly for a few moments. It’s the span of greatness between recession and depression, it’s the scientific geniuses who determine that the rash of birds falling from the sky died of blunt force trauma.

It is the leaders of a supposed superpower standing before the world in denial while their power grid poisons their populace. It is the shit hitting the fan across the Orient while the youth talk of illuminatus rappers running the world from the comfort of their home studio. It is the suppression of talent on public display so that mediocrity appears superior. There’s more of them, and while they may provide less bang for the buck you might just find one that can spell.

It’s a billionaire complaining of missing his bed while his engineers botch calculations and neuter a region. It’s the ‘single database’ of victims on a lost laptop. It’s the wave of hatred toward a country devastated by both natural and man-made disaster because no one knows they were nuked. That wasn’t in the movie, and this is god’s way of showing them who’s boss. They’ll head to the food bank soon.

It is the head economist shaking in his boots on 60 minutes, it’s the assortment of czars and it’s the new money-making schemes in which DC law firms come to realize none of the thousands of people across the country they wish to extort their tax returns from pulls in three grand. While it is a good scheme, as they plan on paying themselves legal fees, the tech firms and the monumental waste of time and previously envisioned moral high ground will eat at them.

@bonventre88 While the basic premise is accurate, my fact checker pointed out the following inaccuracies, which weaken the argument: SILVERSTEIN: Lary Silverstein had a newly negotiated 99yr lease on several WTC bulidings that obliged him to rebuild if they were damaged/destroyed. After 2 court trials he got a settlement from his insurance companies that was capped by the court (at a reasonable ballpark figure for the value of the buildings) subject to an appraisal to fine-tune the valuation. All this is perfectly legitimate, and typical of large insurance settlements where it’s worth while to go to court to prevent the insurance companies from chiseling (which they will do). His various other suits (against the airlines, for example) are unlikely to produce anything but legal fees.
#3: – I think he means the 2nd amendment, which is about the right to bear arms; the third amendment is about the military quartering soldiers in private homes (admittedly, there’s been no move to “end” that either).
EDLY: I suppose he means Chris Edley, a black law prof and an advisor to Clinton and Obama, who served on various commissions (notably, the affirmative action one). He is not a finance guy, so I don’t think he belongs in this particular list (with Bernanke, Summers, Paulson).
TRANSAFGHAN PIPELINE STOLEN FROM ARGENTINA!: – the Argentine company involved (Bridas) was a private company. It had won a contract to put through a pipeline, but during the period when negotiations were going on the family that owned the company sold 60% of it to Amoco. When the war started there was a change in the Afghan government (Taliban to Karzai) and Bridas lost its contract but no construction had been done so their loss was nominal. In 1995 they sold out the remaining 40% of the Bridas company to the Chinese.

Does anybody know when & where this trial will be. Was it moved out of NYC?
The United States will seek a joint trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and his four alleged co-conspirators, the chief prosecutor of the office of military commissions said on Monday.

“My office intends to swear charges in the near future against (the five suspects) … for their alleged roles in the September 11, 2001 attacks,” Captain John Murphy said in a statement. “I intend to recommend the charges be sent to a military commission for a joint trial.”

Best of luck on the move. I’ve moved 19 times, and another one may be coming soon.

I agree about other sites that endlessly recycle content. Which means I’m also being very selective about the content I deal with. Do I really need to see this You Tube clip again? Why am I watching this video stream when I know everything that’s coming up? Maybe I should be a network president or something :).

For now, I’m taking a break from all but necessary content online. Yours is one of the rare ones I feel like I can post on without getting hit by all kinds of triggering things. Which says a lot about the quality of it.